Oscars: 5 things you didn't know about Manchester by the Sea
Fascinating facts about the seaside best picture nominee
The Oscars are right around the corner, and to mark the occasion, we've gathered five fascinating facts about each of this year's Academy Award best picture nominees.
Here they are for the film Manchester by the Sea, which is nominated for best picture, best actor, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best original screenplay and best director.
1. While most films aren't actually shot in the exact locales where they're set, this one began shooting in its namesake town, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.
2. The movie premiered at Sundance, and was purchased by Amazon for $10 million — the second priciest acquisition of the festival behind the Netflix purchase of The Birth of a Nation for $17.5 million. The film also marks the first-ever release by a digital streaming service to be nominated for a best picture Oscar.
3. The characters regularly talk over each other, and that overlapping dialogue was carefully scripted by writer and director Kenneth Lonergan. For those sections, he wrote using side-by-side columns, one side for each character, so they see exactly when and how they should interrupt. "When I'm thinking of it, I try to be loose and improvisatory about it by myself," he said in an interview. "But then I hear it pretty clearly and I write it down as carefully as I can."
4. Matt Damon, who had worked with Lonergan on the film Margaret, was supposed to direct the film, but due to scheduling complications, Lonergan was given the director role. Damon stayed on as a producer and actor.
5. During the funeral for the main character's brother, the soundtrack features music from Handel's Messiah — one of Lonergan's favourite pieces of music. "I've been going with my parents and brothers and sisters and whoever's around since I was 18 years old," he said in an interview. "I just fell in love with it the first time I heard it."
Read fascinating facts about the other best picture nominees here:
From Arrival to La La Land: fascinating facts about this year's best picture Oscar nominees
— Jennifer Van Evra, q digital staff